Edinburgh Accies 42-24 Aberdeen G: Wyness ref rage

KEVIN WYNESS had plenty to get off his chest after this match – although he stressed that he had no complaints about the fact that the better team on the day walked away with the victory.

The visiting coach was exasperated by the way the match was handled by referee Charles Sampson, and was also frustrated that the home side’s roster of one professional and six centrally contracted Elite Development Players gave them a clear edge.

“I’m not saying we were better than Accies but the penalty count was huge against us, which has got to be worrying considering last week we had a referee who seemed to not want to give away penalties to the teams that were trying to play rugby,” said Wyness.

“Now, I can see Edinburgh Accies were trying to play rugby, but so were we. It’s very strange.

“We shot ourselves in the foot early on when we gave them two very soft scores. Then there was a patch when we had the upper hand but were not fully in control because we struggled to put away our chances. So it is very, very disappointing after last Saturday and the positive week we’ve had at training. It’s one step forward and one step back.

“Stevie Aitken came through eighty minutes so I’m very happy with that, and we fought to the end. The negatives for me were that we allowed the referee to manage the game and it would 
appear to me that the referee wanted 
to manage the game, and I’ve a problem with that.

“In the first half I am seeing their tighthead going like that [gestures at pulling the scrum down with his right shoulder] and our tighthead is being 
penalised, but then this guy [touch judge on the stand side] is saying nothing. It’s the same game so, I don’t know if inept is the word, but they don’t seem to work as a team.

“We got a yellow card – our guy couldn’t roll away and their boy was holding on to the ball. The penalty was for us. It was nowhere near the try-line and Accies had already won the match. There is no affinity for the game.

“There were two teams on that pitch and I would suggest that there was one team being refereed and not the game – and that’s the difference.

“Remember, we’re wired up so we hear what they are saying. I’m not blaming the referee for us missing tackles, but the penalty count against us seemed to be one-
way traffic.

“I’ve got to the stage now that I don’t understand why referees are being shielded all the time.”

The issue of access to contracted players is always going to be problematic for Aberdeen given that they are so far away from the central belt, where professional players live and work, but serious thought is going to have to go into finding a way of ensuring that the distribution of SRU employed playing resources is truly equitable – because it is not in the best interests of Scottish rugby to have provincial teams feeling alienated.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure who we played because that certainly wasn’t the Accies team that was playing last week, or the team that came up to play us 
earlier in the season – personnel-wise or playing-wise,” said Wyness.

“I’m not blaming Accies because they are in a cut-throat business and of course they are going to take any player that comes their way – as would we – but I’m just not very sure who is playing club rugby anymore.”